part 2 of “Talking to Jesus”
If you’re like me, I am sure that you have had a difficult time knowing what to say during a conversation. Let’s take a job interview for example. You don’t know if you are going to say the right things. You don’t know if what you say could be misunderstood. You don’t know if you’ll mix up something and say it wrong. You don’t know if they will like you. It can be a very nerve-racking situation.
When we talk to Jesus we want to make sure we say the same right things. We want to make sure we don’t talk too much. We want to make sure we are clear. All of these things can make talking to Jesus very hard and complicated. Here’s what Jesus says….
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” - Matthew 6:7-8 NIV
Jesus doesn’t care about the words that we use. He doesn’t want us to pray for 5 minutes. He doesn’t want us to worry about any of that. He just wants us to talk to Him. He doesn’t want us to complicate praying to Him. He just wants to hear from us. Jesus wants us to tell Him about us. Even though He already knows, He still wants us to tell Him what is on our minds and our hearts.
There is a song that came out in early 2021 by Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music, called “Talking To Jesus”, and the last verse of the song says this…
“There's no wrong way to do it
There's no bad time to start
It don't have to sound pretty
Just tell Him what's on your heart
'Cause it's not a religion
'Cause it's more like a friendship
Just talk to your Father
Like you are his kid” [1]
Prayer is supposed to be simple. We are just talking to a friend. But I still haven’t answered the question “what do I talk about?” There are a lot of different things you can talk about with God when you pray. Here are some…
PRAY SCRIPTURE
You can pray your favorite Bible verses to God. You can even change the words a little bit to make them personal to your conversation with God. For example, Proverbs 3:5 says…
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.” - Proverbs 3:5 NLT
So when you pray that verse to God, you can pray it as is or you can change the words like this to make it more personal…
“[I] trust in the Lord with all [my] heart; [I] do not depend on [my] own understanding.” - Proverbs 3:5 NLT
That right there is a good prayer. It doesn’t have a lot of words and it’s not hard to do. There are many other verses you can do that with as well. God just wants to have a conversation with you.
The other Scripture you can pray is the Lord’s Prayer. This can also be done the same way as the example above. You can pray it as is or you can change the words to personalize it for your conversation. “Our Father” can become “My Father”. Just changing that one word makes the start of the Lord’s Prayer much more personal and powerful.
THANK GOD
Just thank Him. You probably do it more than you know that you do. Those moments in your day when you say “thank you God for _______”. I just did as I was writing this post. I almost slipped on my porch, when I didn’t fall, I said “thank you, God”. Maybe you have said it when someone pulls out in front of you and you avoid getting into an accident and you say “thank you God for helping me not be in an accident”. It’s a simple prayer and I’m sure you have said it more than you know.
But also thank God for the blessings in your life. Thank God for another day. Thank God for the food on the table. Thank God you have a car to drive. Thank God the doctor appointment when good. Thank God that you have a job. Just thank God when you pray. Finally…
Just Talk
If praying Scripture doesn’t fit with you and you are still looking for what to pray - just talk. Just talk to God like you picked up the phone and called your best friend. Tell Him about the good parts of your day. Tell Him about the bad parts of your day. Tell Him about the things you don’t understand. Tell Him when you’re mad at someone - even if you’re mad at God. I know that might shock you. You might even be saying “I can be mad at God and tell Him about it”. Yes! Yes, you can!
King David talked to God all the time. We can find some of the things he said to God in the book of Psalms [2]. David often like God wasn’t there for him. He felt like God had abandoned him. He even says in some of the Psalms that he wrote. If David can tell God when he was upset with Him - we can too. We can tell God when we are lonely, angry, sad, happy, and overjoyed - even when it involves God Himself. God is not shocked by our words and what we pray to Him. We all get frustrated with God like King David did and David told God how he felt. We can do so as well.
I would like to leave you with one final idea to help get you talking to Jesus. Mark Batterson wrote a couple of books called “The Circle Maker” and “Draw The Circle”. They both have to do with prayer. But the one I like was the “Draw The Circle Prayer Journal”. I did the prayer journal a few years ago and I would like to do it again. The prayer journal is 40 days and helps you pray. The journal gives you a brief devotional and verse. Then gives you space to write and think about what to pray. This might be a good place to start. If you would like to grab a prayer journal the link is below. Also, there will be links for the other books as well [3]. But I did the prayer journal without reading the book.
I hope that this helps you start talking to Jesus. I hope you will come back and check out the post next week as we talk about the when and where of prayer!
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[1] Artists: Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music
Song: “Talking To Jesus”
Album: Old Church Basement
Writer(s): Brandon Lake, Steven Furtick, Christopher Brown
[2] verses from the book of Psalms
“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night I lift my voice, but I find no relief.” - Psalms 22:1-2 NLT
“How long, O Lord, will you look on and do nothing? Rescue me from their fierce attacks. Protect my life from these lions! Then I will thank you in front of the great assembly. I will praise you before all the people.” - Psalms 35:17-18 NLT
““O God my rock,” I cry, “why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?” Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?” Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!” - Psalms 42:9-11 NLT
[3] Draw the Circle Prayer Journal: A 40-Day Experiment
Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge
The Circle Maker
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